A Lonely God
by clearbluewater
Summary: This sort of popped into my head whilst I was reading Brisingr, which had one certain quote in it. Which you will find as the introduction to the story.  Reviews and criticism are very welcome, after all I want to make sure you. Well I hope you enjoy it
1. Prophesied

_Adrift upon the sea of time, the lonely god wanders from shore to distant shore, upholding the laws of the stars above._

Hermione sighed and shut the heavy book. Of course Hermione was reading a school book, but not from the school she was at, no it was an A-level physics book. The reason for this was that when Hermione went back home over the summer, and met her friends from Primary school, she could still hold an intelligent conversation with them, about subjects that they took at school. Not that Hermione met many of her old friends, no Hermione preferred to spend her time in the company of her two best friends, her parents and books. But knowledge is power, and she knew that Hermione would try very hard to have knowledge.

Anyway physics was one subject that Hermione would say that she would like to do, it was numbers and formulae, like her favourite subject Arithmancy. She yawned, her eyes drooping, and as she glanced at her watch she realised the time. 11 o'clock; and it was a school night. She mentally chastised herself before she laid her head on the pillow and blew out the candle by her bed. Soon she fell asleep. And as we all know, that's where dreams occur.

_She was running, her lungs and her legs aching for a rest. But she could never stop. Meanwhile she looked onto the figure of a tall thin man was stretched out on the floor. Asleep. Despite this peaceful action he's face was crumpled into a frown whilst his lips twitched and quivered, muttering to himself. All Hermione knew is that she couldn't wake him, not yet at least. So she would keep on distracting this monster. Or else she should surely die._

"So it has come to pass that I must leave you Charlotte, I have interrupted your life enough." He sighed, as he never had been good at saying goodbye. No actually the word didn't often come through his lips. He looked into the face of the blonde girl, pain and tears marked it. "No really, it's for the best, this way you can move on, get married and have children. A normal life" A small sob of grief racked her shoulders. He turned away from her, and pushed open the door, to his home and sanctuary. Charlotte felt another sob rack her shoulders and opened her mouth, a thousand reasons came into her head, all which she discarded. "But I love you, isn't that enough" He smiled ruefully, and yet he didn't turn around. "You don't know how many times I've heard that before. I'm sorry Charlotte, but you should not waste your love on me." And with that he shut the door behind him. Gradually the blue box faded from view, with that noise Charlotte knew so well. One word escaped her lips "Doctor"

Hermione woke, she had as always woken with the little spell she had created to wake her, so that she would be ready in time for lessons. Her eyes were half shut as she got dressed into her robes, and clipped back a portion of her long brown hair. She remembered how it had been the first few years of Hogwarts, bushy and hard to manage, but as she had grown older it had calmed down and now it was simply curly. She stroked Crookshanks as she packed her school bag, he purred contently at her. A glance at her watch told her it was time to go down into the common room and meet Harry and Ron. Normally she wasn't this tired, but for some reason her head wasn't up to its usual speed. _I'm probably just hungry_ she thought to herself.

When she reached the common room, Ron and Harry weren't there yet, so she sat in one of the armchairs and read in her Potions book. It was likely that Snape would ask them many a question on the potion they would surely be making today. "Reading again Hermione" The familiar voice of Ron rang from the steps to the boys dormitories. She packed the book back into the bag, grinned and said "Well at least I know that I'll be able to answer questions that Snape poses." Ron's face fell at that, and he mumbled something under his breath that sounded a lot like "stupid git." Throughout this exchange Harry didn't say a lot, he didn't feel the need to interrupt them whilst they were in full flow. But also because he loved watching Hermione when she was smug, his heart always leapt a little when she was sarcastic and smug and any emotion really. He didn't think that he would ever tell Hermione, or Ron to that matter, that he rather liked Hermione. Luckily for him, but also sadly though because he didn't know, Hermione felt much the same. Sure she enjoyed sparring with Ron, but there was the sense of belonging that she felt when around Harry, they understood each other without words.

They hurried out of the common room and into the corridors of the Hogwarts, there was a certain chill in the air, somehow it forebode of things to come. Hermione felt a shiver creep down her spine but she suppressed it and said "So anyone else, absolutely starving?" Ron mumbled in agreement. They moved towards the Great Hall for breakfast, as usual glances followed the trio. So Harry suggested they take one of his many shortcuts. Hermione was, as usual, half annoyed and half relieved that Harry had the Marauder's map, but she decided that she rather hurry to breakfast, than criticise the rule breaking. They entered the corridor that was the last one between them and the Great Hall. When Hermione collided with Sybil Trelawney herself. Professor Trelawney glanced at Hermione and mumbled an apology. As usual a waft of sherry surrounded the odd professor.

So as normal as the day had started for Hermione, all of it was about to change, not just her day, but probably her life too. Trelawney let out a choked cough, and looked at Hermione, her eyes misty and round. Her voice was thick and raspy as she said.

_"Child of not so noble birth  
You shall someday change the Earth.  
Make sure that the wandering lonely God will rest  
Or else he will fail the final test  
When travelling through the stars  
Remember that your heart is never far.  
Clever as you may be  
Far more intelligent is he;  
Who has lived for longer than you can imagine"_

Hermione was a little confused as she didn't know what to make of it. But Harry realised in an instant, that Professor Trelawney had made a real prediction, no prophecy, he corrected mentally. Trelawney however was not aware of the thoughts that she had created a whirlwind of emotions in the trio. She just gave Harry a worried look and moved away from them, to be instantly wrapped in conversation with Pavarti and Lavender. Ron sighed, he was clearly confused, and said "Well I'm still hungry" Harry who was dazed, agreed and together they sat down at the Gryffindor table. Ron began shovelling food into his mouth whilst Hermione could only manage a piece of toast. Ron nudged her and said, "Come on eat up, you know that most of what the old hag says is rubbish." Hermione gave him a reproachful look. "Well you dropped the subject didn't you." Hermione sighed and then turned to Harry, "What do you think Harry?" she asked. He finished his mouthful of cornflakes, swallowed them and then said. "I think, what she said, may have been an actual prophecy, I mean that's what she sounded like, when Wormtail returned to Voldemort. So I really don't know Hermione." She sighed, and nodded slowly. "I suppose, well I've got to go now anyway. Ancient runes lesson, I'll see you in Potions this afternoon." With that she got up and walked out the Great Hall and towards her lesson. The two boys watched her retreating back, looked at each other as if to say "She is mental after all"

He pushed a slender hand through his brown hair, leaving it even messier than it had been. The scene that he had seemingly witnessed only moments again was playing through his head. He hated his longevity. He would always be the one who had to say goodbye to too many people. "Parting is such sweet sorrow" He murmured, and his voice echoed through the TARDIS. An anger crashed through, as it often did after he left someone. He aimed a kick at something, and then regretted it as it made a worrying clang and then pain in his toe. He held his one foot while he hopped on the other. He looked at the place where he had kicked the TARDIS and noticed that he hadn't damaged it too much. Just another dent it seemed. As the pain receded he carefully put his weight back on it.

He stared at the controls as he wondered where he should go next. One thing the Doctor knew that it wouldn't be Earth for some time. "Barcelona it is then." He said into the loneliness, and without another word he flipped a switch.

As he did he thought of all the brilliant moments he had had with Charlotte, there was the time where they had a run in with the Blathereen, another family from Raxacoricofallapatorius. Or when Charlotte had begged him to see the creation of the earth, a lot less glamorous than she had imagined, for it really had just been a rock circling a new star. It seemed that with Charlotte that he could simply travel, whereas with Rose, Martha and Donna there always seemed a crisis that was intermittent. Maybe the forces that held the Universe in its delicate balance were coming to a rest. That would be for the best, sometimes he was so tired, but no he must go on.

The rest of the day went quickly for Hermione, who was enjoying her lessons; as Professor McGonagall had complimented on her transfiguration homework. She had also managed to get full marks on the spontaneous test that they had gotten in Ancient Runes. Yet below this happiness a turmoil of the thoughts were raging through Hermione. _I really have no idea what she was on about. I'm pretty sure that it was nothing. I mean she is a hopeless fraud. _Hermione was thinking so hard that she didn't notice when she collided with Harry and her books went flying. "Oh god, I'm really sorry Hermione." Harry said. Both of them bent down to retrieve the fallen books. Hermione had her hand on her Arithmancy book when she felt the brush of Harry's hand, small tingles were set off underneath her skin. _Stop thinking Hermione,_ she thought to herself. Instead she laughed and said "Thanks for the help, Harry. And sorry I bumped into you." They both laughed now and Harry said, "Well you looked pretty out of it, you weren't thinking about some essay, were you?" Hermione pondered this for a moment and then said "No, actually. I was thinking about the thing that Professor Trelawney said. And the believability I should give to what she said." Harry shrugged and said quietly, "You never know, so don't worry about it. Even if it were true, didn't sound like it would be a bad thing, the way she said."

These words brought a certain level of comfort to Hermione, not much, but just a little. Then a thought came to her, "Why are you here in this corridor, Harry? I mean you don't have any lessons here." She asked. Harry looked down at his shoes and then said, "Well they moved up the Hogsmeade visit to this weekend, and I wanted to tell you as quickly as possible." She grinned and said, "Well obviously I want to go, I mean we haven't seen George for a long time have we. Come on, we all have a free period now, and I know that you and Ron still haven't finished that essay on the twelve properties of dragon blood." Harry looked dejected and nodded his reluctant agreement. "Suppose you're right, as always." Hermione smiled smugly, but kindly too, and said "I'm not always right, just very often." They laughed again and reached the common room, where they found Ron sat in an armchair; dozing. Harry and Hermione smiled at each other.

He staggered into the TARDIS and said, "The French still know how to party. Even after thousands of years, it just hasn't changed." His tie, that was normally, more or less, hung around his neck was now perched firmly on his head. He looked down at himself, a stain from red wine had darkened the fabric. "Note to self: don't anger the Empress of lower France." He laughed, and the sound echoed back to him; this is when he realised who alone he was. The laughter died down, and suddenly there was an oppressing silence. He sighed, one world weary sigh, and looked at the screen of the TARDIS. All traces of weariness vanished. "A fluctuation of energy, way beyond the norm. It seems that the energy is coming from nowhere. But that can't happen. I mean energy must always be conserved, it can't be destroyed or created. It seems to be happening all over the world, but concentrated in the UK-and there further up north in Scotland. My god it's lighting up like a Christmas tree." He moved to the switches and quickly typed in the coordinates of the brightest area. With that the TARDIS shimmered from its original place.

Hermione, Ron and Harry were walking down the path from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade, there was a sense of enjoyment and relaxation between the three. The idea that they would be able to spend the day not doing anything except from enjoy themselves, was very uplifting. Ron spoke up first. "Weather's good, shame it wasn't like this last week during the Quidditch match." Harry made a serious face and nodded, but added, "We still thrashed Ravenclaw though." This instantly set off a discussion between Ron and Harry about the pros and cons about the role of weather in a game of Quidditch. Hermione sighed, but it wasn't exasperated, it was almost an endearing sigh. _What on earth would I do without these two._ Her face was relaxed into a peaceful smile as she watched the two, who were making wild gestures now. She smiled more widely and then said "Okay so now I feel so enlightened on the topic of weather and Quidditch, but I'd also like to mention to you that we haven't got all day to talk about it, I mean we want to visit George, don't we?" She gave them a pointed look and they both grumbled a yes. But then something happened that would completely ruin their plans.

They took another step, and then a blue box appeared, this apparition was accompanied by a sound that raised the hairs at the back of Hermione's neck. Not with fear but an anticipation that was exhilarating. Harry pulled out his wand and stepped forward before whispering "Get behind me." Hermione smiled and whispered back "It's fine, it's only a police box from the fifties." And with that she pushed past Harry and walked up the police box. She ran a hand along the surface in front of her. _So not a hallucination_ she thought to herself. The surface was wood, just a basic wood but it was real and not otherworldly as its manner of appearing had suggested. She turned around to Harry and Ron and said, "See there really is nothing to worry about. Of course I don't know how it could appear here, but I think it's probably just a simple movement spell." Whilst she was talking she did not notice a door opening behind her, and a slender man in his thirties standing there. In fact she did not notice him till this man said, in a Scottish accent, "Did I just hear you talking of a spell?"

Hermione turned around and took a quick look at the stranger. He was about medium height but very thin, this was accentuated by the brown pinstripe suit he was wearing. She looked at his face, and it was one that seemed alive and animated by a youthful spirit, but the eyes were sad and wise, Hermione knew that all three would have to go through a lot more than destroying Voldemort. Harry looked down sheepishly at his wand, the first rule they had learnt in school, was to not raise awareness of wizards to muggles. Hermione's brain whirred, wondering how best to straighten the mess. "Oh yeah sure, there's this guy who is really changed in his behaviour, and it's almost like he's been cursed." But the stranger wasn't looking at her, or did he seem to be listening to her either. Automatically her bottom lip pouted a little, annoyance raced through her. He had put on glasses and was holding a metal device in front of him, that seemed to make a frantic beeping noise when it was pointing at her pocket, which was the place her wand was concealed. "Can I ask you to turn out your pockets." Any trace of a Scottish accent was gone, almost as if it had been face. Hermione put her hand into her pocket and drew out her wand. "It's a woodwork project. We were learning how to carve designs." She said, hoping it sounded as if it was the truth. She watched anxiously as he took the wand, held it out on a flat palm and held the beeping device over it. The beeping was incredibly fast now, and he was muttering to himself.

He then turned it over in his hand as a look of puzzlement creased his forehead. He wrapped his slender hand around the end that looked most like a handle, He swung it a little, as the trio held their breath, and was surprised when a tiny little spark emanated from the tip. "Wow" he whispered, completely in his element of discovery.

_Oh no, how can we sort out this mess?_ Hermione's thoughts were whirring, in her mind there was no doubt that the person was not an average muggle, yet it was also clear that he was not a wizard. No wizard would have been able to not find out by now. "You're impossible." She whispered, then she realised what she had just uttered. "I mean, who are you?" He smiled at her, "I'm the Doctor" and stuck out the hand that was not holding the wand. "But a Doctor of what? And I mean you can't just be called the Doctor, everyone has a name." He grinned broader, an intuitive girl, cleverer than most he decided. "Well that depends on how you look at it, I'm a doctor of many things. A great manner of things. You for example," He pointed at Harry, "really ought to get that horrible scar fixed, it seems to be sapping a rather large amount of strength." Harry was astounded, how could a muggle be able to see the scar as something that he always had thought it did. "And how can you think that I would believe that this is only a woodwork project." The Doctor swirled the wand between slender fingers, like a baton, as he continued "I mean it's seen far too much energy to be just a piece of wood." Hermione was a little perplexed as to how this stranger knew all these things if he wasn't a wizard, more to the point he hadn't answered her question.

"Fine so I lied, but you've been ignoring my question: what is your name?" She was little annoyed, she knew that for the safety of the Wizarding world she would have to perform a memory wipe on this stranger. The Doctor grinned "Not to be distracted I see, right so my name. You're right to assume that "the Doctor" is just a title, one that I chose when I came of age. But my name is something that nobody can ever know." The smile vanished, "Don't you understand no one can know, unless…" He trailed off, _don't want to be revealing everything about yourself._ "So what is this wooden stick?" As if to highlight his question the Doctor swung the wand. Ron said, "I wouldn't do that, if I were you." But the words were spoken too late. A series of brilliant green sparks erupted from the tip. "Oh wow. This is a beauty. How on earth, did you manage this?" The doctor said. He glanced at the three, at the red-haired boy who looked ever so confused, to the raven haired boy with such a suspicious face and finally at the girl, a girl who held a fierce intelligence in her eyes. These eyes were brown, and seemed to be able to tell what he really was. "Okay, so I guess the deal is up. You might as well know what and who I am." Hermione crossed her arms as if to say "Oh, now you're telling the truth." The Doctor didn't miss this gesture so he hastened to explain.

"Well the thing is that I'm not from here, I come from somewhere far away. And I was in the TARDIS, when it alerted me to an occurrence concerning energy. It was all a little odd, well it seemed there was a large amount of energy that seemed to come out of nowhere, and it's was so odd." He rattled this down as quickly as he could, as he wanted to carry on finding out what was really going on. He watched as the eyes of the trio seemed to glare at him suspiciously but also puzzled, especially the two boys. But the girl seemed to understand some of what he had just said. "Hang on, if I remember correctly, energy can't, not have a source, it is only ever transferred. But can't be created or destroyed". The Doctor positively beamed as Hermione said that. "My point exactly." The Doctor added. Ron and Harry looked at each other bewilderedly. "So now I've answered your question you can answer my question." The Doctor said solemnly. "What is this?" Again he swung the wand, and again green sparks erupted at the tip. Hermione opened her mouth to explain but Harry cut her off, "You can't tell him, you know what the law says about these situations." Hermione glared at him in a way only she could. "Harry I know what I'm doing, besides you've forgotten what I can do to make sure that this situation remains locked away."

Again Hermione opened her mouth and started her explanation, "Well that thing that you're holding is my wand." The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Yes a wand, with which you can perform magic spells, as us three"-she motioned to herself, Ron and Harry- "are wizards and a witch. We belong to the Wizarding world."


	2. Landed

**Here's Chapter 2. I realise this has taken me ages to write, but I hope you enjoy it. I am grateful to all those of you who have read and hope you continue to. Feedback is greatly appreciated.**

The Doctor looked on stunned, _was there really a grain of truth in that?_ he thought to himself. "When you say Wizarding World, do you mean there are more than just you three?" the Doctor asked, Hermione nodded and then continued with her explanation, "We are able to cast magical spells with these wands. So if you give me my wand I can show you." He placed her wand into her hand and she waved it and said, "_Avis_" a flock of birds erupted out of the end of the wand and began to circle her head. "That's amazing." The Doctor breathed, "It's a holographic projection I imagine." Hermione laughed, it was such a typical thing for a Muggle to assume that it was some sort of illusion, like the ones created by the so called "magicians."

Watching this strange man marvel at the birds Ron was still wondering about the word "TARDIS" He was puzzled, the way the man had said it, made Ron think of a vessel. He spoke up his curiosity could no longer be contained, "You mentioned something about being in a Tardis. What in Merlin's name is that?" The Doctor carried on watching the birds but still answered, "Picked up on it have you, and yes I was in the TARDIS, it's my spaceship, well a bit more than that, well a lot-" Hermione piqued up and said "Spaceship? But that's impossible. I mean although people have been travelling in space it's going to be a bit bigger than just that." She pointed at the blue box. A look of reproach passed over the Doctor's face. But Hermione carried on "I mean also where is the fuel and the exhaust." The Doctor's face had a resigned look upon it.

"I guess you want to see some concrete proof then?" He directed his question at the brown haired girl, whose name he had forgotten, as she seemed to be one with the probing questions. "Well then follow me." Harry issued a warning glance towards Hermione but she looked back with a look of contempt that suggested to Harry that Hermione deemed the situation under control. Harry looked over to Ron who shrugged back at him and gave him a confused look. Hermione was the first to stride behind the tall thin man that called himself the Doctor, as he turned his back on them and entered the narrow blue box, leaving the door open behind him. All three of them knew enough about dimensions to know that all four of them could not fit into that tiny box, not even if they squeezed in tightly. But still they followed their curiosity definitely piqued.

Hermione was going to lead the way into the police box before Harry brushed past her and murmured, "Let me go first." with his wand directed at what he assumed was the Doctor's back. Hermione glared at him again, he felt a slight flutter near his stomach, but he still he carried on. Both Ron and Hermione hot on his heels. "Whoa!" "Merlin's beard" "Unbelievable!" their exclamations of shock and surprise made the Doctor grin broadly, he always liked that part of people discovering the fact that the TARDIS was bigger on the inside. _Never gets old_ he thought to the TARDIS, he knew that this thought would be picked up by his trusty ship. He grinned at them, however this grin soon slid off of his face when the brown haired girl, he was beginning to deem the "Smart" one of the trio, started to say, "Well it's nothing that amazing really, I mean we've all seen an Expansion charm at work, the tents that we used for the World Cup or the bag," With that she pulled out a small beaded bag out of her coat pocket and shook it, the doctor perceived a rumble that seemed to conjure the image of cargo hold in his mind. "Crap I had finally sorted the books into order. So really, I don't know what we're exclaiming about, this is obviously some sort of crackpot fool that is trying to have a laugh with us." Utter amazement crossed the Doctor's face before a look of anger replaced it, he put on his most patronising voice, "Well if you must know, Miss Know-it-all-" Ron sniggered "this is a type 40 TARDIS, as I've already told you this means Time and Relative Dimension In Space. With her I can travel through the whole of time and space. The giant space you see isn't some "Expansion hex" but the TARDIS is in another dimension. And you want to know what fuel I use, well if I could direct your attention to this thing here." They all turned round to the middle console, for lack of a better word for it, "Well I travel using energy from the Time Vortex. Oh yes!" His face had become twisted into a grimace between excitement and anger that Hermione found both terrifying and fascinating. "You still don't believe me, well watch this." With, what to Hermione seemed like, a final blow he twisted a lever and the TARDIS lurched into movement, the three looked around in bewilderment as they were flung to the floor.

"So where will it be? Tudor times, or better yet Medieval times, nothing quite like a witch hunt to cheer you up." He said it in a friendly tone that had a hint of spite. Hermione cottoned on quite quickly. "Well if you must know we recently did a unit of work on Witch Hunts in History of Magic." Harry looked at her confused, "We did?" he asked. Hermione sighed and muttered darkly, "Of course we did, you just slept through it and then copied my essay when I wasn't looking." Harry grinned, that sounded very like him. "As I was saying, it'll be good to experience it first hand. If you are REALLY taking us to the Middle Ages." Her voice was filled with a spiteful scorn. The Doctor smiled inwardly but kept a serene face, and said matter-of-factly, "Well I can tell you that the TARDIS has just landed in London, England in 1207. When you step out these doors you'll be able to tell that you are no longer in Scotland nor in your own time. So off you go." He gestured to the door. This time it was Ron who went ahead as he wanted to believe this charismatic but disturbing man. As he opened the doors the first thing that he noticed was the fact that the light hadn't changed, so the same old sun, but the next thing he noticed was the smell. His face screwed up in disgust as he noticed the lingering stenches of festering excrement and humans, animalistic and unfiltered. "Bloody hell it reeks." He said holding up his sleeve to cover up his nose. The Doctor said from within the Tardis, "That's the smell of the Middle Ages, charming isn't it, see thing was they didn't have any sewage at that, so you may want to watch out beneath windows. As they'll just chuck out any human waste into the street."

Hermione was right behind Ron and could see the hustle and bustle of what seemed to be Market Day in London. She noticed the smell but was more practised than Ron in hiding her disgust as she wrinkled her face once in disgust and then smoothed it out again. A thought occurred to her, one that she voiced, "We're going to be noticed if we walk around like this, I mean we'll really be arrested for Witchcraft then." The Doctor smile and said, "A valid point Miss-" "Granger" "-Right, Miss Granger, well the Tardis will be able to sort you out with outfits. I'm sure you would like to keep your current clothes so a change might be a good idea. Follow me." He led them down a long narrow staircase that they hadn't noticed before. This room was filled with rows and rows of brightly coloured garments, some seemed to require a third arm or leg to wear them, others seemed to be made of materials not known on Earth. "Here it is." The Doctor muttered, he had led them to one large wall were all the clothes that were worn at some time on Earth were held. "The start with Ancient Egypt at that end," he pointed to the far side of the wall, "and works itself up from there to about several thousand years into your future." Generally Hermione was not someone who made a fuss of what she was wearing, but even she could not suppress the excitement of playing dress up. She cracked a grin and admired the colours and the different materials. She could have happily stayed in that room to try on all sorts of garments and just revel in the feel of diving into eras. But she was desperate to find out whether what they had seen out the TARDIS door was really the Middle Ages. Hermione knew what sort of clothes she would be looking for; she had decided that she would also try on the traditional underwear, to make it seem more realistic.

She walked along the row that the Doctor had indicated, she didn't even need to calculate the amount of years between the Egyptians and the Middle Ages, but she was so familiar how the clothes should like that she was able to select the correct era automatically. First all of all she decided to help Harry and Ron as she knew that they would have a few problems selecting the correct outfit. For Harry she found the customary breeches and shirt that functioned and were seen as underwear, "This is the traditional underwear, and you're going to have to wear it, you know just in case." She blushed furiously as she said it and decided to carry on rummaging around for more clothes. She then pulled out a doublet that was embroidered and then a pair of woollen hose. Harry looked at her back and said "You have got to be kidding me." She shook her head and said, "That's what they wore." She then handed him a tunic that was to go over the doublet that was also embroidered heavily, this time with gold thread. Hermione knew that this may aid their trip if people thought that they were rich. Lastly she pulled out a green cloak and gave it to Harry. "I guess you're going to have to put your wand up your sleeve as it doesn't have pockets." Harry left her with an angry expression, mumbling under his breath something about "absolutely ridiculous." Hermione chuckled and turned to Ron, "Now to outfit you." She managed to find another pair of breeches and a shirt. however she was only able to find minstrels clothes. "I don't know Hermione, I mean it looks a little silly." Ron said looking at the brightly coloured clothes he was supposed to wear. Hermione frowned and said, "Well these are the only things that'll fit you, so it's worth giving it a shot. Now go get changed."

A little while later, after they had all gotten changed, they met back at the console room. Hermione had now piled her brown hair onto her head and a gold circlet lay delicately on her forehead. She had decided to leave her hair uncovered as she was unmarried. She had chosen a pale blue chemise and over it a dark blue dress, setting off her traditional English Rose complexion. This dress had narrow sleeves to the elbow where they flared dramatically and the skirt was subtly flared too. At her waist she had tied a belt on which the small beaded bag hung, it looked so similar to the pouches that the ladies of the medieval times would have carried, that she knew it wouldn't cause a problem. An intake of breath made her look at Harry, he was looking at in her in an incredulous way. His lips seemed to mouth the word "Wow" but she couldn't be sure. She looked to the Doctor to see how he had dressed himself. She noticed that he hadn't changed. "I thought we were all going to get changed, as to not draw attention to ourselves." The Doctor grinned and said, "Nah, my handsome face is unforgettable, won't cause a scene at all. Well unless we've landed in Elizabethan times. In which I case I suggest staying away from all old Bessie, Virgin Queen she is not I tell you." He was rambling again, but Hermione couldn't bring herself to stop him, as there was a certain boyish glee in his ancient eyes. "Well let's go I guess. And explore, although that may get cut short, trouble usually finds me." The Doctor added. Harry laughed coldly, "What evil set out to destroy you through any means possible?" He said almost bitterly. He had won the war, but at a huge cost. The Doctor still had his hands in his pockets and said, "That's usually it, well they're usually trying to destroy the Earth and enslave Humankind but I'm the thing that get's in the way." Now Harry laughed in earnest, "Welcome to the world of Harry Potter, not a day went past when someone wasn't set on my destruction, only because little old me, as a baby made someone's spell backfire on them."

The Doctor grinned at him, and said "Well at least we have something in common." Hermione looked on darkly at this exchange, not that she didn't encourage people to talk about horrific pasts, as it helps one to get over it, but she didn't like the way in which the two were making the remarks; in such a bitter and yet offhand way. Something in the pit of her stomach dropped, and she knew it wasn't something positive. She had enough of being confined to the box and so she pushed the three men out of the door and said, "Come on we have the Middle Ages to explore." Harry laughed at her whiny tone of voice.

Suddenly they were all outside, the Doctor shut the doors behind them and then clicked his fingers, the TARDIS disappeared, a look of panic went through the trio, and the Doctor said "I'm just putting it a second out of sync, that way it stays hidden." They weren't entirely sure what that meant, but they knew that it would be a good thing to hide something so precious.

It was now that the scene before them actually hit them. The smell was the first, but underneath the undulating stench of human remains there was the barely tangible hint of frying meats, some herbs and the tangy smell of cut grass. One of Hermione's favourite scents and so she decided to concentrate on that smell. The Doctor grabbed four apples from a nearby stand, and as the aged man who tended the stall started to protest he waved the psychic paper at him. The poor old man almost tripped over himself whilst trying to apologise with a "Begging your pardon m'lord. Didn't knowI was with nobili'y"

Harry watched this display uneasily, it reminded him too much of someone being imperiused. So he waited till the man had turned his back to them and then he grabbed the Doctor's arm and hissed at him. "You have no right to take someone's free will." The Doctor, despite his best inner attempts to tell himself otherwise, was frightened of the young man who was gripping his arm painfully. He was also scared of the blazing look of hatred and rage he saw in the man's eyes. The green seemed to flash dangerously. The Doctor almost swallowed, but reminded himself that he was in control. "Now you can check if you want, but I didn't do anything to him, I just showed him this-" he held out what to the trio looked like a blank piece of paper in a brown wallet, "It's psychic paper, it'll show people what you want them to see. At the moment it says that young miss is a Baroness and that you-" he gestured at Harry "-are her betrothed, the ginge is your entertainment and I'm your advisor." The Doctor chose to ignore the angry look that Ron was giving him. He assumed, correctly, that it was due to being the jester. "Isn't it brilliant, I love giving people advice, seeing as I am that much more cleverer." Hermione scoffed, and he grinned mischievously "Oh go on then, test me." The slightly patronising tone infuriated Hermione but she decided to let the taunt go, at least for a while, the words of Trelawney echoed through her mind, and Hermione was not ready to find out if they were true or not. "So I'm a baroness then?" She asked instead.

The Doctor showed her the psychic paper, "See for yourself." Hermione wasn't able to see anything so she said this to him. "Now that's interesting, see it works because you humans have a latent psychic ability." Hermione was listening intently to the Doctor, but both Ron and Harry had rolled their eyes and were now scanning the market. Every stall was covered in various food stuffs, and loosely woven cloths. They both realised that they stood out with their richly died clothing. The shouts of the different vendors, that were trying to attract more customers, mingled with the din of various animals. "What I don't understand how you can't see it. I mean even I can't, and my mind is a bit different to a human's." The Doctor was saying to Hermione. She mulled this over for a while before answering, "Well maybe the magic is another way the latent psychic ability has manifested itself. Or the magic sort of negates the effects of this ability, apart from true Seers." The Doctor looked thoroughly impressed; this was something he had ever considered before. "You have true Seers in your world. I mean I remember when I was with Donna-" again a sad, regretful look passed his features "-and we were in Pompeii. All of the Seers and Augurs had true sight. Everything they saw was true. Which never normally happens." Hermione was about to ask a question about Pompeii, when she noticed a strange man looking at them suspiciously. The man was hunched over, an age was not discernable. But Hermione was able to tell that despite his posture he had the lithe grace of a big cat. The hunched posture then made sense to Hermione, as she remembered all the times that she had been to the zoo with her parents, this was a cat ready to spring. "Doctor I don't mean to interrupt you, but there is someone watching us. And I think more caution could possibly be exercised. After all we are in an age famed for its hunts." Comprehension dawned on the Doctor's face as he listened to her.

"Well then I suggest we go somewhere where we can't be found. Now your clothes suggest nobility, so pick a house that looks fancy. And walk regally. You're a Baroness." He said as he had already began to motion towards one of the impressive buildings that lined the market. As they moved together in their little group the other man moved too, if Hermione had still had had her eye on him she would have seen the prowling way the man walked, likening him even further to one of the great cats. He kept the four carefully in his vision as they disappeared into a house. The man moved towards the entrance they had just used but not entering it himself. As he stopped short when a smell met his nostrils. The corners of his mouth turned up as he whispered, "My, my Doctor, who's a naughty boy associating with Wizarding folk."


End file.
